Must Have Biting Wit, Enjoy Holding Hands

I think I’m in love with Ron Koertge. More specifically, I’m in love with Ron Koertge’s impressive vocabulary.

I also adore his character Margaux, from Margaux with an X. She’s the one who actually possesses the impressive vocab, and though she’s naturally beautiful and has been part of her high school’s popular crowd for years, it just hasn’t been as fun lately to shoplift and make fun of everyone. Not to mention that her family is messed up. Inside, she’s kind of a loner.

So is Danny Riley, who is exactly the sort of animal-loving, puny geek boy she might have once expended some choice caustic vocabulary words on. But there’s something about him that draws her in–maybe it’s the fact that he can match her witticism for witticism, or maybe it’s that he, too, has hidden painful secrets in his family’s past.

In some ways this is a hopeful story: they need each other to heal. In other ways it doesn’t sugarcoat reality. Neither character is perfect; far from it. They don’t quite end up happily ever after. But their unlikely friendship is a bright note, a little spark in the dark.

Like this book. It’s a little spark, beautifully written.

About the author

Sarah Jamila Stevenson is a writer, artist, editor, graphic designer, proofreader, and localization QA tester, so she wears a teetering pile of hats. On any given day, she is very tired. She is the author of the middle grade graphic novel Alexis vs. Summer Vacation, and three YA novels, including the award-winning The Latte Rebellion.

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